Tag: ConCarolinas

Emerging from the void

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

Well, it’s been two months since I posted.  Personal stuff, we won’t go into it.  But summer is here — always good news for a teacher — so maybe I can be  writer again for a few months.  And we’ll start by writing a blog post.

For starters, I have a story out in a new themed anthology from the Sparkito imprint of Dark Quest books.  The anthology is called Galactic Creatures.  The theme?  Animal satellites.  Yeah, I’ll let that sink in a moment…animal satellites.  When I heard it, I wasn’t sure whether to work with satellites that looked like animals, behaved like animals, contained animals, animals that behaved like satellites…heck, there are probably a dozen ways to interpret the theme.  I suspect that will lend to the variety of the stories within.  No, I haven’t read it yet because I was out of town when my copy arrived.  But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

My story is called “The Scrapper and the Saint Bernard”.  My interpretation fell somewhere between a satellite that looks like and acts like a Saint Bernard dog.  It uses an almost epistolary style, a first for me.  I think it all worked pretty well (he said without prejudice).  Pick up a copy and see for yourself.

In other news, I just got back from my third trip to ConCarolinas in Charlotte.  No, I wasn’t a guest or a panelist; I’m not big enough yet.  (Soon, though.  Soon…  But I digress.)  Con time was split with some time bonding with high school buds, so it wasn’t the immersive con experience I have had other times, but it was definitely a fun trip, as were the last two years there.

The best part was probably spending time with the Magical Words crew again.  Good people, good writers.  They are a big part of why I go every year.  Faith Hunter, A. J. Hartley, David B. Coe/D. B. Jackson, Misty Massey, Carrie Ryan, Kalayna Price, Edmund Schubert, Stuart Jaffe…not all of them are involved with MW anymore, and some are part-timers there, but I have enjoyed their fellowship and wisdom.

I also enjoyed other aspects of CC: the Dr. Horrible sing-along (always a favorite), sci-fi Whose Line Is It Anyway, the costumes, browsing the wares in the dealer room, yadda yadda yadda.  It’s a mid-size con.  It’s fun.  I only hope I’ll get there next year now that my buddy in Charlotte (whose apartment was a few minutes from the con hotel) is moving to Florida.  Note to self: look up cons in Tampa.

That’s it until next time (which won’t be quite so long).

ConCarolinas: Day 3 (the final chapter)

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

It’s tough for a day 3 to live up to a day 2 at any Con.  For me, this day three was no exception.  Everything was pleasant enough, but not special.  Some very nice panels that have inspired me to do posts on a few different topics that are of great interest to me: rejectomancy, advertising, and YA, to name a few.  I bought a book, got talked into Kindle-buying another.  And, against my better judgment, I left a few hours early.  It’s fun to be one of the last ones out the door because it increases recognition and conversation among the other late-stayers, but I was tired and missed the rugrat.

The best part of day 3 had nothing to do with the con.  (Not THIS can, anyway.)  I’m not 100% sure how vocal I should be bout it (he decided after flapping his gums to a few friends) so I won’t spell anything out.  Let’s just say that, thanks to a friend, I have a new reason to explore steampunk.  This was good news and made me a happy writer.

As a whole, it was a good weekend.  I made some new friends.  Some pros recognized me and struck up conversations on their own.  I got to know some pros (see day 2): develop a tiny crush on Faith Hunter and refueled a pre-existing tiny crush on Carrie Ryan.  (Nothing tazer-worthy, just a harmless smirking fanboy kind of thing.)  Expanded horizons.  Had fun.

Did attending this Con further my career?  Not per say.  What I did was build up my people network.  I turned strangers into acquaintances and acquaintances into friends.  You’ve heard the expression, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”  I always thought that was kind of a sinister saying.  In this case, it’s more about having a friendly faces along the road.  When my career gets off of blocks in the front yard, it will go somewhere.  Wouldn’t it be nice to get there and know someone?  Even better to know ten people?  If I feel like I belong a that stop, it will make it that much easier to move on to the next.  Okay, I’ve retyped this metaphor six ways and it’s still not working, so I’m leaving it.  If a decent metaphor comes to me, I’ll make a whole post about it.

It’s late.  Brain…failing.  Must sleep.  ____________

ConCarolinas: Day 2

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

This day can be summarized in a single word: Magical. In two words: Magical Words.

Most of the writers involved in the Magical Words blog are here and I spent most of the day stalking hanging out with them. They are all such great people to talk with and they get along with each other wonderfully. They made up an entire panel about creating a web presence as an author that was informative and really fun. Then they skittered off to lunch with 25 of us tagging along. The restaurant was less than thrilled to see us, but service was good and company was great. There was also a party in their honor that night which reminded me fondly of the Locus party at WotF. I’ll do a full post on the Magical Words crew when I get back home.

I also managed to partake in a guilty pleasure: a Dr. Horrible’ Sing-along Blog sing-along.  I LOVE Dr. Horrible! Neil Patrick Harris is brilliant. It was cool (and a bit scary) to have a room full of people singing the songs and spewing lines at the top of their lungs, not unlike a viewing of Rocky Horror (only less lingerie). It was a moment with “my people”.  Fun fun fun, even if I did have to endure the musical episode of Buffy before hand.

It’s Sunday morning now and I just finished my Rooty Tooty at IHOP. Time to wrap this con up. See you on the flipside.

ConCarolinas: Day 1

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

I’m here. Arrived very shortly before the very first panel as oppsed to the “comfortably early” I had planned, but I made it. The few panels I attended were good (one was fairly spirited) and the opening ceremonies were, while not particularly ceremonious, quite entertaining.

I left around 7 to meet an old friend and missed the evening’s festivities. Glad to catch up and gladder that I won’t have to miss any more.

In trivial news, I got to ride in the elevator with Emilie Ullerup (Battlestar Gallactica, Sanctuary) and it was in this elevator that I realized what a knockout she really is. (Almost as attractive as my wife.)  I hope to have more close encounters with the guests tomorrow. For now, it’s way past bedtime. I need sleep if I’m to get my ihop breakfast and make it to a 9:00 am panel. (Okay, maybe 10:00.)

Walking on the Respectable Side

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 2 Comments

I’m off to ConCarolinas soon. (Hooray!) I actually leave Thursday for my parents’ place for a short visit and to hand off the kiddo, then on to Charlotte.

The con got me thinking about business cards.  I mocked up a design and may or may not distribute a few while I’m there.  Anyway, business cards got me thinking about my amateurish email address.  How juvenile is it to put an unpronounceable email on a business card?  So I set out to explore the options of receiving email through this site’s domain name.  Thanks to Google Apps, it turns out it’s easy.  So now I can be reached at writer@scottwbaker.net.  I have not abandoned my old addresses, osomuerte@gmail.com or osomuerte@hotmail.com, so there’s no need to alter any contact info you have for me.  I have simply added a small degree of legitimacy to my persona.

Is it that important to portray myself professionally?  Probably not.  But here;s a short list of things I have done over the past year or so to improve my apparent professionalism:

  • Purchase my domain name.  It’s cheap, like 15 bucks a year, if I recall.  I was too late to grab the .com name, but it’s tough to mistake me for a NYC photographer.
  • Abandoned my web handle.  I’m still “Oso” in a few circles, but mostly I use my name.  A handle from a character in a role playing game is not the way to present myself to the SF world.  Not that the SF world doesn’t get it (most do), just that the SF world knows that I should know better.
  • Cons.  I’ve been a guest at a con (thanks ChattaCon!) and am doing what I can to attend cons periodically.  Why?  Connections!  I made some great ones in Chattanooga in January and I hope to continue the trend this weekend.  The best way to do that?  So far my luck has been at the bar.  Just saying…

…and that’s about it.  I’ve done so little to seem like a pro.  The most important things to do are writing (which I need to do more of) and selling (which I need to do a LOT more of).  Until then I will present myself with dignity and competence, even though I’ll still do it in a Hawaiian shirt.

Some days you’re the shoe…

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

…some days you’re what gets scraped off.  Today has been absolutely craptastic.  Really the last 24 hours or so.  Little stuff, to be sure, but none of it uplifting.  I got a visit from the micromanagement fairy at work and got to spend twenty minutes changing grades…to the same thing they started out as.  (Let’s just say that putting restrictions on how math teachers average grades is like me telling the New England Patriots to only throw slant routs.)  Then came the twin form rejections from Digital Science Fiction and Asimov’s.  Then there’s personal stuff that’s none of your business, but it’s unhappy, too.

I’m ready for silver linings.  Better yet, acceptances!

Until then, I await June with the end of school and the coming of ConCarolinas.

Summer Starts with a Con

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 2 Comments

I just booked my room for ConCarolinas.  I hadn’t realized how early CC was this year: June 3-5.  Hoorah!  That gives me a week off school before my summer con, likely the only one I’ll get to this summer.

CC has a history of being a strong literary con, strong enough that my pitiful resume didn’t get me a guest slot.  Alternative history legend Harry Turtledove will be the writer GoH.  I will most assuredly be getting my father’s copy of Guns of the South signed.  Other literary-types attending include (but are not limited to) Toni Weisskopf of Baen Books (who I met at ChattaCon), Ed Shubert of IGMS (who I met at last year’s CC and from whom I have received some lovely rejections), Gail Z. Martin (met at both ConCarolinas and ChattaCon), most of the crew from Magical Words, and Codex members J.F. Lewis and James Maxey…and those are just the ones I recognized after on quick pass.  I’m sure I’ll meet more great people/writers this year, especially since I’ll be staying in the hotel rather than with a friend that lives only a few minutes away like I did last year.  More cost but more con experience.  I missed out on a bunch last year.  Not this time.

There will also be media guests of note.  No, not Nimoy or Hamill or Spielberg or Radcliffe…not even names you would likely recognize on their own, but roles you would recognize.  John Billingsley?  He was Dr. Phlox on Enterprise (not to mention a boatload of other roles other places).  Bonita Friedericy?  General Beckman on Chuck…and Billingsley’s real-life spouse.  David H. Lawrence?  Try the Puppet Master from Heroes.  Emilie Ullerup?  Julia Prynne on Battlestar Galactica.  See, you know them.

The full guest list is at http://concarolinas.org/index.php/cc/ccguestlist/88

For those that haven’t attended a science fiction convention, they pretty much what they sound like.  Yes, people do dress up like Storm Troopers and Klingons and Ghostbusters and (oh please oh please) Princess Leia.  But not everyone.  Not half of everyone.  Costuming is a fun part of the con to behold.  I hope to eventually pull together a Dr. Horrible costume, that being WAY cheaper than say a Malcolm Reynolds costume.  But not likely for this year.  Anyway, cons also have panel discussions and an art show and a dealer room.  However, rumor has it that most business goes down outside the framework of the con…typically in the bar.  It’s been my observation, too.  My best contacts from ChattaCon were made in the bar, at parties, and/or at meals.  These are the bits I missed last year.

I have a special affection for ConCarolinas since it was the first con I ever attended.  I kind of consider it my home con despite being closer to Nashville and Chattanooga and Atlanta and probably others.  It’s big enough without being too big.  It’s got strong literary participation.  Lots of panel rooms.  A Nerf war, for crying out loud!  (Speaking of, where’s my Nerf gun?)  My folks are pretty close (90 minutes?) and can watch the kiddo.  I have a local friend.  What’s not to like?

What else?  Oh yes.  Against my better judgment, I’ll mention this here: I have booked a room with two beds when there is just one of me.  I did this with the thought that I’d split said room with a friend if I could find one attending that needed a room.  I am not expecting to be so strapped for cash that I need to split it, so I will be very selective of my roomie.  (In other words, a post like “Hey, nice blog you got.  What was your name again?  Oh, right, it’s at the top of the page.  Anyway, I’ll go halvsies on a room with you…” will probably earn a cool reception and a polite decline.  But, if we’ve engaged in conversation (real or online) and you’re thinking of attending CC and are contemplating costs, a split might be an option.  Just putting it out there.  Oh, and in the interest of full disclosure: I snore like a truck.  Yeah…I’m likely keeping the room to myself.  Just as well.  🙂

What cons are on everyone else’s hit-list this summer?

Post Con Report

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

While I have nothing to compare it to, I think ConCarolinas was about the right size and design for my sensibilities.  The writers’ track seemed to be very strong.  Attendance was strong.  And it was fun, right down to the last panel.

I sat in a couple of Jerry Pournelle‘s panels.  He is an opinionated man with a wealth of experience, not all of which he was able to express.  He was honest in a way only older people tend to be, pulling no punches.  For instance, he insisted he couldn’t pass along any advice on how to collaborate, as he has with Niven and others to huge commercial success.  But then he had advice on how to do it.  For instance, you both have to do 90% of the work.  I didn’t get around to getting him to sign anything for me (I only had one obscure book of his), but I valued his advice.

John Ringo, on the other hand, signed a copy of my friend’s book for me.  He assured me it was a collector’s item — a (now signed) hardback Hymn Before Battle, his first novel, I believe.  Sadly, not my book.  But Ringo had plenty of thoughts to share.  I was astonished how much research he could pull off the top of his head.  I missed his presence at the Hard Science Fiction panel (he was hydrating through it), but did hear his opinions on the writing of military sf, probably more his dish. Not an easy guy to converse with, I suspect, but if you can hold his interest, he’s quite brilliant.

Another author I was quite impressed with was Connie Ryan, author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth.  So impressed, I picked up that book today at Wal-Mart.  I was impressed to find it there, despite being a New York Times top ten YA book — our Wal-Mart doesn’t have much of a book selection.  She was kind enough to step in for a panel that was completely canceled, the one on breaking into the writing business.  It was well attended and she didn’t want to disappoint all us wannabes, so she gave a brief history of her career and fielded questions.  She wasn’t even supposed to be on the panel.  She was very personable for someone on the verge of super success: FHT has been optioned for movie rights and is (as I mentioned) on the NYT best seller list.  In all I think I saw four of her panels (including the impromptu one) and was impressed by her each time.

I met other authors.  The ones from Codex will likely even remember me.  J.F. Lewis kept greeting me by name.  I had a good discussion with IGMS editor Ed Schubert about what he wanted to see for his zine and other less on-the-nose stuff.  Nice guys, both.  Allen Wold impressed me tremendously as both moderator and teacher; tons of wisdom, that man has.  Like Yoda with a long beard.

The costuming was amusing but not my thing.  I was never there late enough to see the NC-17 costumes, but I saw a few revealing ones; they all seemed to lack the effort that went into the more authentic costumes.  The Sesame Street alien was pretty funny.  I think that may have been crossing into the real of furries, so I’ll digress.

Having never been to a con, I wasn’t sure what to expect of my fellow attendees.  There were a few that cranked the nerd scale way over to the socially deficient side, but most were just folks like me, enough that I’ve decided I need wilder Hawaiian shirts if I’m going to stand out as “the Hawaiian shirt guy.”  Oh well.

I did wish there was time for more audience involvement in the panels.  They were mostly a table of Guests having a discussion among themselves for our amusement without quite addressing the questions we wanted to hear.  A few attendees were brazen enough to butt into the dialog, but not many.  I did manage to heckle the first panel I saw, but one of the guys made a (alleged) joke and he told the crowd we were allowed to laugh.  I just suggested he should say something funny first.  It was an auspicious beginning; I reigned it in afterward.  🙂

I hope to return next year, preferably as a guest.  *crosses fingers* Next year’s writing GoH is alternative history guru Harry Turtledove.  It doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me to make it to any other cons this summer, just the WotF workshop.  As if that’s not enough networking.

Con Report: ConCarolinas: Days 1 & 2

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

I arrived in time for the first panels and managed to meet J.F. Lewis, a fellow Codexian, right off the bat.  Nice guy; not quite my genre.  We’ve chatted a few times since.  I also met Edmund Schubert, editor of IGMS.  Super nice guy; talked to him for about twenty minutes today.

My first Con experience has been a little less intense than anticipated since I’m splitting time between it and hanging with old friends.  In fact, the hanging with old friends last night led to my missing all the morning panels today.  Head still doesn’t feel quite right…

Anyway, I have seen Klingons and zombies and Storm Troopers and Ghostbusters and furries and pirates and more zombies.  I’ve been to some good, writer-relevant panels.  I went to one panel on surviving the apocalypse (whatever form that might take) that was pretty insane, or rather the panelists were.  Enjoyed panels including Jerry Pournelle and John Ringo.  I’ll update more on the details of the panels later.

I need a good dinner and a good night’s sleep so I’ll be ready for Allen Wold’s two-hour writing workshop tomorrow morning.  And no extra-curriculars tonight.

I’m skipping out on the rest of tonight’s festivities.  I wanted to see the movie premier of Exhibit A7, but it’s been compared to Cloverfield in its execution and my constitution can’t take that right now.  More fun tomorrow.

On my way

~ Scott W. Baker ~ 1 Comment

I’m getting ready to leave for my parents’ place in SC.  Tomorrow it’ll be off to Charlotte and ConCarolinas.  Wheee!  But first, a 4.5 hour car ride with my 3-year-old.  Wheee?

I’ll have my laptop so I won’t be off the grid, but my grid time will likely be limited.  I’ll blog about the Con in small doses, then a big dose when I get back.